Tony Blair has supported the comments made by Britain’s Top General, Sir Richard Dannatt, who said that British troops in Iraq have “exacerbated” the problems and should withdraw “sometime soon”. The General caused quite a fire-storm with his comments and some news agencies reported that he had “declared war” on Blair.

Later on BBC Radio 4, the General softened his statements saying that British troops should leave “when the mission is substantially done". He said this Radio report was not a complete retraction of his earlier statements made to the Daily Mail. "I’m a soldier — we don’t do surrender," Dannatt said in a brief written statement, "I have given a little more explanation about what I meant by 'sometime soon'; that's not backtracking." He added, "I have withdrawn none of the comments that I have made.”

Had Pope Benedict XVI omitted the citation of Emperor Manuel II Paleologus' remarks about the Prophet Muhammad bringing only what is "evil and inhuman" to the world, a quote he himself admits was marginal to his argument, he would not have emphasized as clearly as he has done the focus of his central argument - that is modern secular rationalism needs to heed the contribution of faith to enable it to break out of the narrow confines of absolutism and fundamentalism. Which is specifically the problem with Islam, both as a religious doctrine and as a ‘way of life'.

To understand this point, non-Muslims must focus on the difference between Islam and Islamism. Islamism is a set of political ideologies that holds that Islam is not only a religion, but also a political system that governs the legal, economic and social imperatives of the state according to its interpretation of Islamic Law. For Islamists, the sharia has absolute priority over democracy and universal human rights. The terms "Islamist" and "Islamism" are used often in several publications within some Muslim countries to describe domestic and trans-national organizations seeking to implement Islamic Law.

China and Russia have accepted a compromise by the US concerning a new United Nations resolution against North Korea. Kenzo Oshima, Japans U.N. ambassador and US Ambassador John Bolton, who introduced the resolution, said that the some members of the UN agreed on a resolution which will go before a 15 nation body on Saturday for a vote.

China and Russia sought last minute changes in the resolution, according to a report from Edith M. Lederer of the Associate Press. The latest draft would not authorize military action under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, and would also eliminate a blanket arms embargo from a previous draft. The compromise targets specific equipment for sanctions including missiles, tanks, warships and combat aircraft.

British General, , made a surprising admission today saying that the continued presence of British troops "exacerbates the security problems" in Iraq, and that their forces should leave Iraq “soon”. This is likely to have a negative ripple effect throughout the British government.

Sir Richard, who became Chief of the General Staff in August, told the Daily News in an exclusive interview that the British should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems". He warns of a "moral and spiritual vacuum" that has opened up in British society, which is allowing Muslim extremists to undermine "our accepted way of life."

Prime Minister Tony Blair has already said that he will step down soon, and most believe this will happen in May before the election. Blair has repeatedly said that the British presence in Iraq is morally right and has had no effect on their domestic security. But the general criticized Blair’s policy saying that the Prime Minister’s desire to forge a "liberal democracy" in Iraq is a "naive" failure and he warns that "whatever consent we may have had in the first place" from the Iraqi people "has largely turned to intolerance."

A new survey in Iraq conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad indicates that there have been 655,000 Iraqis killed in Iraq as of July. This figure contradicts the estimate made by the Whitehouse.

The Lancet medical journal in October 2004 concluded that at least 100,000 and as many as 280,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed in the first 18 months of the occupation. Last December the President estimated that 30,000 Iraqis have died in the war since U.S.-led forces invaded in March 2003. At the time, many considered this estimate on the conservative side.

In this new study, the researchers conducted a door-to-door survey of 1,849 households. They used these data to extrapolate the nationwide number of deaths. There was a huge margin of error, but they say that they are 95 percent certain that the real number lay somewhere between 392,979 and 942,636 deaths.

Important: The material on Best Syndication is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be advice. Authors may have or will receive monetary compensation from the company's product/s mentioned. You should always seek professional advice before making any legal, financial or medical decisions and this website cannot substitute or replace any trained professional consultation.
Use of this site means that you agree to our TERMS OF SERVICE